Case 1: Thank Ewe
To reach the index of the series, click here: Fairy Tail: Black Glass Previous Chapter: Case 1: Vel-Crows are the only birds that stick together The Marionette 2. Words tumbled out, raced through her mind, a series of threats, insults and exclamations, but in the end, she decided to settle on the question that stood out the most to her. “You were expecting me, weren’t you?” Nevron replied almost lazily “Of course I was expecting you. You and the Arch-Sage to be specific. I was waiting for both of you, I just didn’t think you would be the first, or that you would arrive so quickly. I would assume you already know what I’m after. Really, all I needed left were individuals from the Magic Council and Fabula Nova. The dear Arch-Sage, I assumed he would be smart enough to figure out my plans and come here to face me alone. The only wild card, was you my dear monster. Were you smart enough to figure out my plans on your own, or were you going to tag along with the Arch-Sage? Nevron stood up and Araseph shifted, flowing magic into her metal plates. “And even if you did figure out my plans alone, there was no guarantee you would even come here without any assistance. That’s why I got Carol to open up to you, although from what she told me, turns out you didn’t need any help at all. How is she by the way? I haven’t heard from her for a few hours.” “Knocked out.” “Ah.” Nevron nodded. “No doubt she would be dead then.” Araseph raised an eyebrow “The cost of enhancing her magic exponentially- if she isn’t there to control it then the acid would tear through her cells. Such a shame. I wasn’t particularly fond of her but…she certainly was loyal to the cause.” Her thoughts went quiet. The breeze stirred and her mouth went dry. Carol is dead. The voice in her head uttered the phrase as Nevron continued talking. “I did tell her she could take your place. Can you imagine that? A mere child taking the place of the great Magic Hunter.” “Carol said something, she said you wanted Liza more than me.” “Did she now? Maybe she got the two of you mixed up, I don’t have much use for that teleporter, especially in comparison to the Arch-Sage…then again, she certainly was rather jealous of your position. Oh well, none of that matters now does it? Now then, since this is such a rare occasion, I’d like to get things started.” Nevron clapped his hands and held them out expectantly. “Please come at me with everything you’ve got.” “…What?” He smiled. “Don’t play games with me. I know of your capabilities, of who you really are, so you don’t need to hide anything. Show me what the real Araseph can do. Show me the wonderful world of the One Magic.” ---- Nora was leaning against a window, feeling the cool glass on her face outside the operating room. Soma, another doctor, had brought her some white energy drink to help her feel better. She hadn’t been this tired since the war and at Soma’s request, Nora began to recount her experiences with Fabula Nova. “After Moon Drop blew up the old QuadDracoras, Florence asked me to go and learn how to save people instead of just hurting them” Nora reminisced taking a sip of the drink and murmuring appreciatively. “I travelled to four different countries, and learnt as much as I could about the human body.” “My father used to tell me some of the stories about the war.” Soma said. “You’re really quite the hero Dr. Valentine.” Nora gave a tired smile. “I just tried my best. I brought back people who were supposed to die, so many times that there were days when Nowie’s best men would see me and just run. “''No point fighting if they were all going to be saved''” they would say. So I thought, with all I’ve done and with all the knowledge I had, I would be able to save everyone in the war. But I quickly learnt sometimes, with situations like Serum’s, some people just couldn’t be saved.” “What happened to Serum?” "He made a mistake. He decided to face Araseph on his own.” ---- “I really don’t know what you’re on about, but I’m ending this whole charade right now.” Araseph said, casting Beast Soul: Mountain Guardian. She gathered her magic and covering herself in an incredible ball of light, transformed into a blue-white, winged behemoth. A ring of magic erupted from her body, pushing Nevron back a bit and she charged at him. Nevron slapped his forehead. “Right. Of course, there’s no reason anybody would tell you. Logically it wouldn’t…” he began talking to himself. “Well this makes things difficult…I had hoped you would already know. No matter.” He faced Araseph again, grunting as she slammed into him. “Do you know of the lachrima that’s inside of you princess?” Araseph hissed and shoved him back with a thick shoulder. “Why does it matter to you?” “Well” Nevron stumbled and regained his footing. “During my time in the war, I heard some interesting things you see. At one point Nowie even called that chunk of crystal in you his “''back-up plan''”. That’s a big responsibility, don’t you think?” “Who knows. Not my problem though.” Nevron laughed as he began to push back. “At least you’re honest.” Araseph glared, and flaring her magic leaned forwards, swinging a powerful claw at Nevron that tore through his clothes and flesh. Blood flew out but Nevron stood still, showing only mild surprise he had been injured. He sighed and grabbed Araseph’s thick arm, twisted his hip and threw her over him in a move that reminded her of judo, to crash into the ground. His fists came down like a rain of hammers, battering her underside. She tried to push him off, claw at him, bite his head off but he ducked and weaved away from her all the while continuing his assault. The floor cracked, then broke, and Nevron continued hitting her, driving her deeper into the earth with every blow. An oddly pleasing sensation if it weren’t so painful. Araseph got rid of her take-over, instantly reverting to her human form and as Nevron fell from the sudden lack of volume to beat into, she rolled to the side and kicked him heavily in the chest. A lazy swipe of his arm that moved faster than she could register came at her, and Araseph was knocked upwards into a wall. She hit the black stone so hard she bounced off and crawled back to her feet as Nevron started explaining “Since it sounds like you don’t know, why don’t you learn something fun? Hmm? The crystal, the white lachrima inside of you, is one of six lachrimas in Earthland. The Ohr-Ein-Sof, is what they’re collectively called.” He began climbing out of the crater he had punched. “Fire, water, earth, wind, light and dark. The six lachrimas each represent a basic element of nature.” He blocked a strike from Araseph. “But that’s not why they’re so special. Each of them, if used properly, can give their user power of a limitless scale, a power even gods desire; direct, unrestricted access to the true source of all magic: The One Magic. ---- Nora tied her hair from her elaborate style into a ponytail, wishing for nothing more than a shower right now. “Something people don’t seem to understand about the war, is that the people of Fabula Nova, their 14 core members, were on an entirely different level. There was one rule you had to always follow. You don’t go up against a core member of Fabula Nova alone. You retreat until you had an army with you, then you all attack at the same time, and hope somebody will be able to get in a lucky shot.” “They were that strong?” Soma asked. Nora nodded. “Which is why, when Soren beat one of the leaders on his own it was such a big deal. Of course, with people like Nowie and Leengard, it was normal to flee on sight. Trying to fight them, even with an army was suicide.” “Was Araseph the same? In terms of magical power I mean. When she was in here earlier, the charts said she was at the expected level of most Captains. Was she really a core member of Fabula Nova?” Nora set her cup aside, taking a long moment to answer. “The person during the war and Araseph today...when people say they’re two different people, it’s not a metaphor for how much she’s changed. They really were, well and truly, two different beings sharing the same body. She’s strong, but she’s nothing like the monster during the war. ---- Araseph looked at Nevron. “You really expect me to believe that? The One Magic?” she said. She wiped off a bit of blood from her nose. “Then how come I’m not some kind of insane god right now?” Nevron was smiling, blocking and redirecting her kicks even as the force of her blows tore apart the black room. “Because you don’t know how to use the Ohr-Ein-Sof. You’re nothing more than the husk, the remnant of that thing in the war. That there inside of you? That’s the light element. To bend light, generate explosions, call down beams of destruction and even heal your body from all kinds of damage. And that was only a fraction of what could be done with the crystal. Oh, the monstrous possibilities…” Nevron smiled, and Araseph could see love in his eyes as he continued. “Watching that overwhelming power just tear people apart, it was like living inside a dream.” “You talk like I’m a god.” “The crystal is. You’re not.” Araseph coursed magic through Passion Flower and moved a metal plate to the ground, balanced on it with her hands and sent a kick at Nevron that should’ve shattered bones but was deflected just as easily as all her other kicks. She used her magic to make the plate float upwards and she tried once again, rearing her leg back and lashing out harder at Nevron’s head. Nevron took the blow and he grunted. His hand grabbed a part of Passion Flower and he swung it with such force the blunt metal plate nicked her leg. Skin teared and blood sprayed out and Araseph gave a cry as Nevron kicked the second metal plate from underneath her hands. He gripped the part of Passion Flower already in his hand and standing over her, bashed her with the metal until blood leaked from her hair and tossed it away. Araseph turned over on to her back, trying to catch her breath. Her vision blurred and blood ran into her eye as Nevron crawled on top, straddling her. She raised her arms to cover herself like Soren had taught her, but Nevron roughly pulled her defense apart. His left hand swung down and cracked her cheek. Fear and panic rose into her brain and she clawed at his face, scratching him and trying to gouge his eyes out but he leaned back out of reach and with one hand held her hands together. With his other he clasped it around her neck, squeezing and fueling magic into his hand. Turning the grip on her throat into an iron claw. ---- Drops of water began to hit the window glass and caught Nora’s attention. The drops became more frequent, became heavier, and soon the faint "pitter-patter" could be heard from beyond the glass. She looked down and saw people scurrying back inside the guild, smiling as one person looked up and waved at her. “Doctor?” Soma hesitantly asked. Nora snapped her attention back to Soma. “Oh sorry, it’s just been a while since it last rained.” “That’s quite alright. I was just wondering, what actually happened to Serum? Why couldn’t he be saved?” “Is it really that strange? He just decided to face Araseph alone.” “Well…it’s just that, I’ve seen you perform miracles. So I can’t imagine what it’s like to not be able to save someone.” Scenes of destruction flashed into her mind, memories of a burning citadel, final screams, claws ripping people open and she saw Serum, dressed in his red cloak, walking out to face the young, white haired girl all those years ago. “He went out to face her alone. When Fabula Nova attacked the citadel, Florence, his sister, was sick at the time, she was being moved to another part of the country but we needed time to teleport her. So he went out alone to try and buy everyone some time.” She saw him flicker in her mind, the tell-tale sign of his Speed Magic, the fastest man in Seven. “He ran at her, faster than anybody could even register and sliced her arm off. We thought it would be over, just like that. If he could get her arm, why not her head? But she just looked at him, and then he…disappeared.” Soma frowned. “Like…he ran somewhere far away?” Nora shook her head. “Vanished. Gone. There was literally no corpse left she…demolished him. Turned him, a live, healthy human being into eternano. Can’t save someone if there’s nothing to work with. At the time, we didn’t know he was dead, we just thought she had teleported him to another place. She picked up her arm and reattached it like it was nothing, then just continued her slaughter. To us, she was like some blood thirsty, merciless god. To her, we were probably just a bunch of ants in her way.” ---- Araseph’s eyes bulged, Nevron was cutting off the blood supply to her brain. Her hands struggled, she twisted and pushed but he didn’t move. Nevron was taunting her, moving his thin lips but she couldn’t hear what he was saying. Her head was getting fuzzy, and she knew her face would be red by now. Don’t you hate it when you’re red? Blushing isn’t a good look for you. ---- “So…how did you defeat her?” “We never did.” “I’m sorry?” “One day, she got caught in some trap, a seal everybody had forgotten about. And even though she probably could’ve destroyed the seal without a second thought, for some reason she stayed in there for a couple days. One of our psychics got to her and split up her personality, sealed off the blood thirsty side of her from the person she was before the war. Apparently, she was kidnapped into Fabula Nova, imagine that. So they found who she was before the war, sealed off everything else and that was the end of that.” ---- She was making that awful noise, like a gurgle when people were getting choked. Spit dribbled down her face as Araseph kept struggling. Not very attractive. Nothing she did worked. She wasn’t going to get out of this choke. She was going to pass out. She was going to die. Tears filled her eyes and the voice in her head lazily whispered. "I’d really rather not come out." ---- “It’s lucky we did manage to subdue her though. We barely won the war as it was.” Soma nodded, staring at the rain pelting the glass. After a moment of silence, another question came up. “So if Araseph for whatever reason ever went back to who she was during the war, how bad would it be for us?” Nora closed her eyes and gave a small ‘hmm’. “Well, right now all of Seven’s military is spread out trying to repair the country. Moon Drop is gone, almost all the heavy hitters in QuadDracoras are dead.” Soma winced at her straight forwardness. “Or outside of Seven, and a lot of light guilds were hurt pretty badly during the war. And this is assuming the other side of Araseph hasn’t gotten any stronger since the war.” ---- Her heartbeat slowed. Her eyes got heavy. She could feel her brain slowing down, and as she drifted off with clouded thoughts she mused about the human body. She had an identity, defined by a personality, a series of characteristics that existed in her body. And now that the body was dying, so would her identity. She would disappear forever into the nothingness-the eternal void. Good god you’re annoying. Fine, just this once ok? ---- “It would be, for a lack of better phrase, the end of the world.” ---- The cup Nora had set aside cracked and the juice spilled out. Soma exclaimed and rushed to clean up the mess as Nora simply looked out the window. As the container broke, somewhere else in Seven Araseph’s mind broke, white magic poured forth from her eyes, mouth, nose and ears, wrapped around her body like a second skin and when it was all over Nevron smiled with savage glee. For the true Magic Hunter had come out. Fabula Nova’s Araseph. And in that brief moment of transformation, that millisecond the walls of reality broke down inside of Araseph’s mind, a surge of magic flowed through Nevron’s arm and into Araseph’s body, and once more, Nevron swapped minds with the person in front of him. When he opened his eyes, he saw the world from a new perspective, smiling as he felt his new body brimming with limitless energy. With the powers of a god. The Other Magic Hunter He was wrapped in glowing white, from the ends of each toe to his head, white magic so tight Nevron could make out the muscles in Araseph’s legs, his legs, every sharp angle of his bones and the jut of the Crygis in his sternum. With blonde hair, he imagined he looked like a divine being. Like a god. He crawled up and stood in the air, walking on a higher platform invisible to his eye. He rubbed his throat and made a face and after a couple hesitant attempts healed the passage that had been crushed by the iron grip. It was a type of magic that wasn’t confined by disciplines or practices. This new magic was exhilarating, it was limitless. It had no rules. It only needed imagination. This was the One Magic he had heard about. He looked down at his old body, the one that was currently being occupied by Araseph. With a glowing white arm, he splayed his hand and a blast of white magic shot out, blowing up half of the room and sending Araseph flying away. He chuckled. If his old body hadn’t been so resistant to magic, there was no doubt the blast would have torn the body to pieces. Araseph fell, falling with the black stone and landing heavily on a pile just outside the mansion. She didn’t move. Someone rapped on the door and walked in, a short, thin man with red hair and thick black glasses rushed into the room. His butler. He ran to Nevron’s feet and looked up with tears in his eyes. “Lord Nevron, you’ve finally accomplished your desires. What is your will?” Nevron went to move down, to pat his faithful butler on the head, a job well done. But his hand twitched, his body brimmed with magic and the butler’s skeleton blew apart instantly. Shards of bone tore through organ and flesh and stuck into the wall, an explosion of blood painted the floor and Nevron stepped back in shock. The body crumpled and fell, a bloody, unrecognizable mess-all that remained the person that had been faithfully by his side. This wasn’t supposed to happen, his butler was supposed to be alive, to be there by his side advising him of his next move. He swayed in the air, suddenly unable to properly stand in the air now that he began to think about it, and Soren’s words rang in his mind. “Which leads me to believe, even with your ill intent, you haven’t done your research.” Nevron grit his teeth, he didn’t want to admit it but his magic came at a downside, the poor idea he wasn’t sure how to use another discipline of magic at the same expertise as the original user. He pointed at the butler and tried to heal him, tried to repair him like he had healed his own throat. The shards of bone came together, the flesh and organs fell back into place and he looked fine. But the butler didn’t move. And Nevron wept. * * * * * Hours passed and he focused his resolve. He would avenge his butler, he would make things right. He gathered the magic around him in the air and imagined the eternano forming a platform for him to ride on. He floated upwards and flew out of the room, out of the hole he had blasted Araseph out of. He flew through the air, heading straight for the Midnight College. He took his mind off his anger and plans, looking around at the pouring sky, the dark clouds, the mountains and the green fields. He tasted the rain and for only a moment thought to himself about how wonderful the world was. Shame it would all be going to waste. A blast of magic hit him through the rain, knocking him off balance and he almost tumbled to the ground. He whirled in the air, hands flaring with magic ready to fight. And almost like a sense of Déjà vu, time seemed to slow down, the world got a whole lot duller and even under the white mask Nevron paled when he saw the person flying through the air towards him. The brilliant blue scepter shined even brighter in the rain, a bubble of air stopped the rain soaking his white cloak and he emitted an incredible aura of magical energy. Floating through the rain towards him, an expression of fury on his face, was the Arch-Sage. Soren Evans. Her Guardian Angel Even through the pouring rain and a clash of thunder overhead, Soren’s roar could be heard. “'Gladiolus Version 2!'” Magic wrapped itself around Soren’s scepter, the blue light pulsing with a dreadful beat. The magic layered itself, building constantly up to a ridiculous blade that dwarfed the trees below. He swung the scepter, the handle of his blade taller than he was, a faint blue glow coating the blade, and bisected Nevron in mid-air. A yell of shock escaped his lips as Nevron watched the lower half of his body tumble down. The coat of white magic congealed and crawled over where the blade had cut and lengthened, catching his lower body and slowly pulling them together. Soren dashed at him, swinging his ridiculous blade again but Nevron didn’t care. He focused his magic, trying to repair his body even faster and realized he was still screaming and cursing from the pain. The blade cut again, taking his arm and another swipe took the other. Nevron roared and a blast of light magic burst from his mouth, missed Soren and hit the forest. A flash of white and the blast tore up the forest, throwing up the soil and destroying all the trees. Dirt rained down and yet Soren continued his assault, swiping his scepter as Nevron nervously leaned back and flew through the air. His lower body finally attached and Nevron kicked the blade as it came towards him, a single desperate thought flitting through his mind. The blade shattered and as the fragments of eternano fell with the rain, Soren floated in the air, watching Nevron slowly repair himself. “How’d you do it?” Soren asked. “How’d you get the other side of Araseph to come out.” “Let’s not get too hasty now. How about a simple trade, I tell you how I did it and you tell me how you found me so quickly?” Soren held up a finger and a wave of wind magic pulsed from the point. “'Radar'. I recognized your magic signature inside Araseph’s body.” “That makes sense.” Nevron simply shrugged. “As for Araseph, I’ve got my ways. Fabula Nova saw the Crygis as an important tool, so they installed a second persona of sorts to figure out how to use it properly. I just poked around with her limits.” A long moment passed and Soren murmured. “Oh.” He said. “Of course, you tried to kill her.” “I prefer the term violently sub-“ Soren flicked his scepter and an orb of wind flew from the tip and before he could react it burst Nevron’s eye. He roared in agony and clutched his eye, the liquid and the jelly squeezing between his fingers. He flew circles in the air while he tried to heal, the pain was just excruciating. “Don’t do you dare think you’ll be getting out of this alive.” “Are you sure you want to fight me?” Nevron called out through gritted teeth. “This is still Araseph’s body you know.” Another flick of his scepter and Nevron’s hand blew off at the wrist. As Nevron gave another roar Soren spread his arms, gathering and wrapping the wind and molded them into wings. Sky God’s Blade. Opening access to a whole new arsenal of wind spells, Soren began chanting, fury biting his words as Nevron began gathering his magic into an awful ball of energy. “I’ll figure something out.” Through Purple Eyes Araseph opened her eyes to a grey pouring sky. Rain pelted her body and a puddle she was in lapped at her, threatening to spill into her ears. She sat up and grimaced at the wound on her torso, three large slashes bled freely and as she tried to reach into her vest for bandages, she patted herself down in confusion. These weren’t her clothes. This certainly wasn’t her body. Even in the dim lighting she could see her reflection in the puddle. That certainly wasn’t hers. Confusion and panic washed over her and she tried to make sense of all this. There was a flash above her but when another vivid flash came instead of thunder she frowned and looked up. High in the sky were two figures floating in the air. One had a distinct blue shine on them that she could barely make out. The other was wrapped in a glowing white from head to toe and belted out a laugh as a wave of magic hit them. That laugh. That was hers. She clutched her head that felt like it was splitting apart. There was something important, a key fragment of information she was forgetting. Why was she down here when her body was up there? Who caused the wounds on this body? A scene flashed her mind, of a giant white claw tearing the torso of a man. Of who? Someone they were going to go and catch. She was going to catch Nevron with Soren. But she was Nevron, why would she arrest herself? Confusion filled her mind, if people were after her shouldn’t she hide away? Heal up and make sure nobody ever catches her? To run away from Araseph so she will be safe forever. Another flash of magic and she frowned. “What the hell.” She muttered, looking down at herself. She was Araseph. She was Araseph. She was Araseph. She chanted those three words and shook her head. Relief flooded her heart as she understood and remembered what had happened. Nevron had tried to kill her, and something had happened. She had blacked out when magic poured out of her, but she assumed if this was the situation, Nevron had taken over her body while she was unconscious. As for what was up there flying and covered in white… Araseph shook her head and slapped herself. None of that was important. Priority was figuring out how to get back to her original body. The first thing to do, would be to figure out what Nevron could actually do. She remembered how Nevron had been suspected of being able to use Requip magic, so she looked at her hands, felt the magic flow and charge and… Now that Araseph thought about it, apart from Take-Over she knew nothing about using magic, much less a magic she had never personally used. Tilting her head in the pouring rain, magic clashed and another flash appeared overhead. She nervously licked her lips. She really didn’t fancy somebody else using her body…what if her body got hurt? Or even worse like Lucian’s, what if her body died while Nevron was using it, she would be dead too wouldn’t she? Just like Lucian… Another flash of magic and Araseph paused. Gears in her mind slowly began to turn… She remembered Conway talking about his encounter with Nevron, how Nevron had beaten the fire-molder unconscious before taking his body. Nevron had done the same to her…but why? She had just assumed it was because Nevron wanted her to be in that awful form where she was filled with pure magical energy, but then why had he done the same to Conway who was by all means, an ordinary human? A question bore into her mind. What happens if Nevron doesn’t beat the other person unconscious. Well obviously, they would be up and about, moving and still fighting. So Nevron would be fighting his body in someone else’s which was just confusing. But also impractical, he wouldn’t want to injure himself. So he would make them unconscious then swap bodies through physical contact. He would make sure his body was in a location he knew about and somewhere relatively safe, tended to by his servants. But then how did he get back to normal? He swapped back with Conway because Conway was about to pass out from his injuries from the previous fight anyway…so perhaps a broken mental link then? Araseph frowned. It made sense, a magic that swapped minds would revert if there was no mental link. In Lucian’s case, Lucian died so the minds swapped straight away. And in due time that’s what would happen to her, Nevron would personally see to it that Araseph’s body somehow dies, breaking the mental link. It was either her body or Nevron’s. She froze as she quickly went over what her brain had just said. Either her body or Nevron’s…what? Nevron’s what? Nevron’s body of course. What about Nevron’s body? She whispered it aloud, careful not to tread too fast in fear of breaking her idea. “If…Nevron’s body dies…there would be no mental link…if there’s no mental link the magic wouldn’t work…and if there’s no magic swapping the minds then the minds would have to go back to normal…right?” Another flash, but this time thunder followed through. It seemed as if the battle over in the distance had steadily slowed down. Araseph hoped it wasn’t too late, and she prayed this plan would actually work. She had a plan. She knew what she had to do…Normally a voice inside of her head would have mocked her, or at least talked this over with her but when nothing came through, she began looking around. Behind her was a vast forest, and up above her, on the top of the mountain she was on, was the black mansion, the mansion Nevron owned. That would do the trick. She looked around and frowned, she couldn’t see the Revelations Ray anywhere. She took a shaky breath. That mansion. The mountain was high enough already but the top of the mansion’s tower was even higher. She walked over to the edge of the mountain, where the grass suddenly stopped and peered down. The rain and the lack of adequate lighting really didn’t help but she estimated the drop to be several hundred…maybe even thousands of kilometers down. It would be more than enough. She looked up. The hole she guessed she had been blasted out of was only 10 meters above her and her body hurt like hell. Something this high up would have to work…right? Gritting her chattering teeth, she began scaling her way up the mountain. Climbing her way to the highest peak she could find. No way in hell was she going to take any chances with Nevron. A Clash of Gods Nevron dashed forwards, firing a beam of white light from his mouth. The beam hit thin air and when he whirled around to try and find Soren, a blast of wind smashed his jaw apart. He healed the jaw instantly, he was getting much better at this, and flung his arms outwards sending out an arc of white light. A blade of eternano sliced through the arc and when it dissipated, Soren flickered and appeared in front of him with a torrent of wind around his fist. Howling Breakthrough. The wind blew up and bore a hole through his stomach amidst an explosion of flesh and white skin. Nevron stumbled back and blindly fired a blast of magic that was blocked by the sudden emergence of a wind wall. The clouds parted for a moment, a beam of light filtering through from above and Nevron solidified the light into a devastating ray of light. Soren flew back and with one hand summoned another wind wall that blocked the ray of light from piercing him. He tried to heal his stomach, to repair the white skin but Soren appeared next to him once again, with a blade of eternano in one hand and the scepter now fashioned into an eternano long-sword in the other. He brought his arms up, tried to make a wall of light like Soren had but he was too late as the Arch-Sage whispered “'Viscaria'.” Soren twirled, both blades cutting Nevron and with every slice, the weapons changed from blades to axes and sickles, the tempo changing and the motions changing as well, so much so Nevron couldn’t keep up. A deep gash upwards sprayed his own blood into his eyes and his hands went to his face. Soren gathered magic into his scepter and made another ridiculous blade. Still twirling, with an almighty slash he butchered Nevron from the right shoulder to his left hip. The white skin turned sharp and lashed out at Soren and when the Arch-Sage backed off, it healed Nevron up completely once more. His white lips curled. “You’re not going to win Arch-Sage. Face it, while I’m in this body you’ll never kill me.” Soren ignored him and lashed out with another blast of wind magic. Nevron’s head rocked back and he heard the bottom of his head pop as his neck extended. Before he could even react, Soren was by his side and with a blade of eternano sliced through his neck. The white skin was healing his body before the blade had even exited the other side, and Nevron pointed with his index. A thread of white magic speared through Soren’s wind wall and skimmed off his neck, drawing blood and a glare from the Arch-Sage. A block of wind struck him from above and when it hit it felt like he had been hit by the fist of god. Nevron caught himself. What was he saying…with this body, he was god. He hurtled to the ground and crashed in a grand explosion that tore the area apart. Dirt flew up and plodded down on his face while he repaired his organs and bones. The muscles were a little bit trickier but when it was all over, he got to his feet. Soren was still in the air, the blue glow of his scepter telegraphing where he was. “The only downside of being an Arch-Sage.” He mused to himself. He had heard about how different Araseph was during the war and had chalked it up to another entity within her…everyone had. But when he couldn’t find anybody else inside this body, someone or something to guide him with this magic, he clicked his tongue in disappointment. Maybe he was wrong. He frowned when Soren stayed up in the air. Given the Arch-Sage’s actions, he had fully expected Soren to rush down and beat him, not giving him a chance to figure out this body’s abilities. He narrowed his eyes and focused magic to his ears, hearing over the deafening rain Soren’s voice chanting, radiating with fearsome magic. “''Lend me your strength, O Lord of the Skies! Dash from the Heaven’s Wind! O guardians of Asgard-“'' Oh hell. He knew that one. Nevron leapt up, flying towards the Arch-Sage with a ball of white magic in his fist. Soren dodged a swipe, “''Vanaheim-Alfheim!” Dodged a kick and a beam of energy from Nevron’s mouth. “''Come! Decree the fallen and judge them-''“ A thick pillar of light rushed down from the heavens and struck Soren down, encasing the Arch-Sage in a devastating blast of Light Magic. The pillar struck him out of the sky and pushed him to the ground, with every tick blasting him even harder with magic and further into the ground. When it was all over, the pillar thinned, waned and flickered away. Nevron floated down, a wicked axe of light in his hand and searched the crater for Soren. The soil under his feet shifted and a heavy gust of wind shot him into the air, with such force the wind snapped his leg backwards. Nevron screamed and as the leg shoved itself back in place, another blade of eternano came at him. The white skin leapt off his arm and widened into a large shield, shattering the blade that came at him. He looked down, focused magic into his eyesight and flashed a wicked smile. The Arch-Sage crawled out of the ground, the so called '''Untouched Tactician' was bloody and covered in dirt. With a flick of his wrist he turned the shield back into his skin. He was getting used to this…just a few more experiments and he would understand this magic enough to decimate the country. He wouldn’t even need the Revelations Ray at this point. Spitting a beam of magic down at the Arch-Sage, he waited for it to explode and hidden by the dust and soil flew down, forming another pillar of light in the sky. Playing Dirty Being in another person’s body was an interesting experience. Being in Nevron’s body, a person who seemed to pride themselves on tanking magic and overcoming challenges with pure physical strength, was exhilarating. Araseph grabbed a hole in the cliff wall and with incredible ease pulled herself up. Steadying her legs against the surface, she leapt like a tiger pouncing prey onto the next hole. In a journey she had estimated would take several hours of heavy physical punishment, Araseph reached the mansion in mere minutes. She pulled herself over the ledge, onto the lush grass and faced the black mansion. She could go through the mansion, probably come across and fight his servants and reach the top or… Running, she leapt onto the branches of a tree and carefully finding one that would bear Nevron’s weight, jumped from branch to higher branch, her heart jumping in tune with every leap and with one last jump she landed heavily on the roof. The pouring rain and the powerful blasts of magic in the distance threatened to push her off the roof but she punched a hole into the slanted tiles and used them as footholds, clawing and punching her way to the highest spire. She climbed over a skylight with shaky legs, and a voice called out to her. “Master Figurate! It’s dangerous up there!” She felt a tinge of magic invade her brain, try to reason this wasn’t what Nevron should be doing, try to persuade her to get back inside the mansion, the lavish mansion where it was safe and warm, to act normal. But she shook it off and powered through, and climbed the spire in a manner that reminded her of a particular film about a giant monkey. Grimacing at the unfortunate lack of grace, she reached the top and had to perch on all fours to not fall off. Now that she was up here, she really wasn’t sure if this was the best idea. Powerful gusts pushed at her, the pouring rain soaked through her clothes and she shivered, adding to her already shaking legs. It made sense, a mental link needed both parties to be conscious. She normally wanted at least a third example to rely upon but the past two cases had likely broken their mental links because of unconsciousness…well one of them was dead so that was a bit different. A sense of “What if” pervaded her mind…if she was wrong, she was dead. That was a huge drop, it would take several seconds for her to actually hit the ground… “''splat''” she sang in her mind. A mild morbid curiosity went through her and she thought about the Magic Council, somebody falling off the top would take roughly nine seconds to hit the ground. This height was almost ten times that…Araseph couldn’t help but laugh. 90 seconds of free fall? Oh wait…acceleration from gravity. Araseph bit her lip…this was all very distracting… A card she hadn’t noticed in her pocket began to glow and Araseph looked at it. A purple calling card. She brought it up to her ear and hesitantly said. “Hello?” ---- Soren roared in agony as several spears of light rained from the light. Even against his Wind Barrier the light bolted straight through, leaving behind holes and struck him. Nevron stood high in the sky above him, a single hand splayed out and watching with morbid amusement as the Arch-Sage struggled under the relentless assault. Spears broke past his famous defenses, struck and embedded themselves in the Arch-Sage, two were in his left shoulder, four on his right leg and another four on his left. Every time a spear threatened to pierce the Arch-Sage’s head, Nevron got rid of the spear, turning it into a flash of powerful light that blinded Soren, in turn causing even more spears to hit him. He could increase the frequency…the thickness of spears…he could possibly even make them explode upon contact. But that would ruin the experiment, it would kill him far too quickly, and blasphemers like Soren Evans who dared to fight back against Fabula Nova needed to be punished. Slowly. He ceased the rain and when Soren let down the Wind Barrier, no doubt to recharge his magic, Nevron cast down a pillar of light, increasing the intensity with Soren’s roar. “'Judgement'.” He uttered. ---- A woman’s voice with an accent came through. “The job’s been cancelled, turns out the Revelations Ray can’t actually break open the Eternal Prison.” Araseph frowned. “I’m sorry?” “''We found Nowie''.” Araseph’s breath almost stopped. “We told him what we were going to do but he said he’s not interested. Says the Ray isn’t strong enough to crack the seal, much less break the prison open. Boss says it’s all over, he said to come back to HQ. That’s all.” A click and the calling card stopped glowing. Araseph looked at it in confusion…she had almost forgotten she was in Nevron’s body. She took a shaky breath in and carefully stood up. Whoever that was had found Nowie…she needed to hurry up. If this did in fact turn out to not work, she was going to at least go out with some form of grace. Balancing herself with her arms out to the sides, Araseph looked up at the pouring sky. What a shame there was no sunlight…maybe this was what she deserved after all she’d done…just a dreary downpour. She closed her eyes. She counted to ten. She opened her eyes. Calm and collected. She jumped. ---- A halo of light circled his body, slicing apart and catching any blasts of wind Soren threw at him. Nevron raised his arm and missed the first time, but with his second attempt made a cage of hard light around the Arch-Sage. Trapping him inside, Nevron picked up the cage and like a ball and chain, batted the cage around, wondering how long he could trap the Arch-Sage for. ---- Wind whistled past her ears and the ground that had previously been hidden by fog suddenly became a whole lot clearer. She was faintly aware of her own voice, screaming in panic, she could feel the panic inside of her. Her vision began to blur. Her breath became shorter, more rapid and she heard herself begging. No. No. NO NONNONONONONONONONO. ---- He threw the Arch-Sage high up in the sky, released the cage and was going to watch him fall when he decided it would be better to send one final spear into him. He fashioned a brilliant spear, of magnificent light and reared back, ready to throw it like a javelin. ---- She became aware of all she wanted to do, a feeling of regret, a wish things went differently. And in a brief moment, when she felt gravity pull her closer, faster to the Earth, she wanted to think of something different, something better, something happy but all she could do was panic, to wish she had her own magic, to wish she could stop this, to wish someone would save her. Please. Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please Please The wind hurt her eyes, deafened her ears, the ground raced to her, faster and faster, there was no light-there was no rain-it was all ground-and when it hit her she- ---- * Chapter 12: Case 1: Marionette